Trump wants death penalty policy for drug dealers, report finds

Donald Trump has privately become more enthusiastic for adopting drug policies inspired by countries that believe in capital punishment.

President Trump would “love to have a law to execute all drug dealers here in America, though he’s privately admitted it would probably be impossible to get a law this harsh passed under the American system,” according to a report from Axios.

According to five sources who have spoken to Trump about the issue, “he often leaps into a passionate speech about how drug dealers are as bad as serial killers and should all get the death penalty.”

Sources also say that Trump is inspired by countries such as the Philippines, whose president Rodrigo Duterte is leading a bloody drug war that has already claimed thousands of lives as a result of extrajudicial action.

“He often jokes about killing drug dealers,” a senior administration official told Axios. “He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them.'”

Several of Trump’s peers have instructed Trump to respect state laws regarding marijuana, however, including a bipartisan group of congressmen and senators, as well as current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

“Whether it’s veterans or anyone else, if it helps those people, then fine,” Kelly said in a 2016 interview with the Military Times. “Medicine is medicine.”

Smell The Truth is one of the internet’s most popular destinations for cannabis-related news and culture. This blog is not written or edited by SFGate or the San Francisco Chronicle. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Smell The Truth

Smell The Truth is one of the internet's most popular destinations for cannabis-related news and culture. This blog is not written or edited by SFGate or the San Francisco Chronicle. The authors are solely responsible for the content.